Inside the Article:
The Detroit Red Wings opened the year with a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. The Red Wings and Devils played a scoreless first period before the Devils scored two power-play goals in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. The Devils added three straight goals in the third period before Lucas Raymond scored the Red Wings’ lone goal on the power play with two minutes left. Ville Husso made 22 saves for the Red Wings, while Robby Fabbri made his season debut with 14:54 of ice time. The loss drops the Red Wings to 16-13-7 on the season, while the Devils improve to 24-11-3.
Why it matters: The Red Wings loss to the Devils marks the start of a tough stretch of games for the team, who will kick off a weekend back-to-back against Atlantic Division opponents on Friday night. The Red Wings will need to bounce back in order to remain in the playoff hunt.
“On the whole, an incredibly frustrating night in that poor special teams. A great performance by their goalie overshadowed a pretty good 5-on-5 game for us, which is frustrating. But, gotta execute on special teams. We did not.”
Head coach Derek Lalonde on where his club struggled against the Devils
Detroit Red Wings vs. Devils By the Numbers
- Ville Husso made 22 saves for the Red Wings.
- Robby Fabbri logged 14:54 of ice time in his season debut.
- The Red Wings outshot the Devils but could not get the puck past Vitek Vanecek on the 5-on-5.
- The Devils scored two power-play goals and one shorthanded goal.
- The Red Wings scored their lone goal on the power play.
